Creative Cloud; Adobe owns me now

[Auggie]

Since I use Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator etc. on a daily basis for business I'm left with little choice -- Adobe is dropping updgrade support for CS4 and CS3 after December 31st, 2012. Special price for the first year is $29.99. After that the yearly subscription is $49.99 a month, plus tax. It's higher on a month-by-month basis. You do get a lot of software, plus web hosting for up to 5 non-commerce sites. We'll see ...

[NV Whino]

1. I really hate that

I'm looking for alternatives for Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign.

I need them but don't use them enough to warrant the cost.

[Auggie]

2. Unlike many, I can add the expense to my client invoices ...

just like I did when I paid to own the software outright. I'll keep my version of CS4 on the hard drive as back-up until it's rendered totally obsolete.

It's a real opportunity for other companies to step up. Adobe did an efficient job of just about killing QuarkXPress, which I think is more intuitive than InDesign and always loved. I had to change because my industry preferred the pricing of Creative Suite when it was introduced years ago.

Now they're trying to kill ownership because they think they can make more money via subscription. Must keep the shareholders happy, you know.

My wife is using GIMP for photo editing/retouching on her PC. I think it's a free download.

[NV Whino]

4. Yeah, there are several alternatives to PhotoShop

And I could probably use Pages for InDesign, but I'm up a creek with Illustrator.

[mopinko]

3. i'm thinking i might take a class in january so that i can get a student pass.

$20/mo. i have a student copy right now, but i got my certificate. i might take a class anyway. keep me out of trouble.

[onehandle]

5. Still on CS5, which runs great on Mountain Lion, and does every thing I need.

CS upgrades just don't hold the necessity they used to.